In the second part of our Android ROM series, we talked about how you can flash a custom recovery on your Android device so you can get started with flashing custom ROMs. The article also listed some of the best ROMs you can get on your Android device and have fun with. Unless you have been rooting and flashing Android devices for a long time, it would be quite difficult for you to learn how to flash a custom ROM on an Android device. In this part of the series, we will be walking you through steps to flash a custom ROM on your device and start to explore a whole new world of custom development.

Regardless of how skilled you are with Android, the guide below should make everything easier for you to open your device for some third-party development.

There are a few things you should know before you delve into the guide, the first one being your device needs to be rooted, and you must have a recovery installed on your device. If you have followed our previous article, then you know how to get a recovery up and running on your device. When you are done with both of these things, you can jump to the guide below.

Flash a Custom ROM on your Android Device

There are numerous custom ROMs available for Android devices, and you can choose whichever one you think suits your needs. If you are not sure where to find ROMs, simply do a Google search and you should end up with hundreds of ROMs, if not thousands, for your device.

Once you have chosen a ROM for yourself, simply download it in the ZIP format and save it to your computer. The ZIP format allows you to flash your ROM within a single tap without the hassle of going through a dozen complicated steps.

Note: The steps below are for CWM Recovery. The TWRP Recovery uses slightly modified steps. If you can follow these steps, you will have no problem flashing ROMs with TWRP Recovery as well.

Flashing the ROM

1. Transfer the downloaded ROM from your computer to your device. You can use the USB cable to perform this task. It is highly recommended that you leave the ROM ZIP file in the root of your phone’s SD card; it will make it easier for you to find the file when you need it.

2. Boot your phone to recovery mode.

Keep in mind that the recovery uses Volume buttons to navigate through options and the Power button for selection. If you have flashed a touch recovery, you can tap the appropriate options instead.

3. Wait for your device to go into the recovery mode. Once you are in, choose the option that says “Install zip from sdcard.” It is for flashing ZIP files on your device.

4. On the next screen, choose the “Choose zip from sdcard” option. It will let you choose a file on your device that you wish to flash.

5. Navigate to the root of your SD card where you have saved the ROM file and select it. It should then be ready to be flashed on your device.

6. As soon as you choose a file for flashing, your device will prompt you if you really wish to flash the file. Obviously, choose “Yes” and it will let you go ahead.

7. Depending on the size of the ROM, it may take from a few seconds to a few minutes to finish the process. Once the ROM has been flashed, a confirmation message should appear on your screen.

8. You can now select the option that says “Reboot system now” and your device will reboot into the newly installed custom ROM.

Congratulations! Your device is now running the custom version of Android that you chose above, and you now have plenty of features other than stock ones that you can start enjoying right away!

Conclusion

Getting the custom ROMs installed on your device is by far the best way to enjoy something on your device that you haven’t had before. Our guide above should definitely help those users who wish to take the plunge and enjoy the greatness that Android has to offer!

4 comments

I figured this would go without a hitch, but if you are as lucky as I am and using a Samsung with Kit Kat be aware. Knox (Android security) is on most of the new OTA’s and can take all the fun away when rooting.

The post above only covers the basic idea of flashing a custom ROM on an Android device.

As for clearing the cache and other data, if you look at the XDA forums for custom ROMs, you’d find that only half of the ROMs require a clean device. The rest of the ROMs just work fine even with a non-clean device.